Twilight Time

When Rick Hautala isn't reading Hamlet or outlining his latest book (or outlining Hamlet, for that matter), he spends his time exploring the dark recesses of his mind. In 1994, his mental spelunking resulted in the novel Twilight Time. After many years of therapy, Jeff Wagner thinks he finally has his multiple personality disorder under control. Although extremely high strung, Jeff leads a normal life. He has a supportive wife and adoring daughter, and holds a job as a professor of history at a local college. Jeff's relative serenity is disturbed, however, by his sister's attempted suicide. In order to care for her, he must return to his hometown in Maine. Jeff's homecoming triggers a series of traumatic events which bring him into direct confrontation with his horrible past, as he finds himself drowning in a sea of unwanted memories involving beatings, incest and the disappearance of his younger brother, Jeremy. Hautala's writing is sure and effective. Jeff's conflicts and problems are realistically rendered, and his journey towards the truth is compelling--his dialogues with his alter personalities, which take place in a part of his mind that Jeff calls the "safe room," are especially engrossing. It is regrettable that this book was labled as a horror novel when it should have been catagorized as mainstream suspense. Readers who dismiss that "horror crap" out of hand probably missed out on this enthralling psychological thriller.